Need some help

[hzl eyed grl]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum or not...so let me know. I had recently moved in with my friend, jeweleeann, and she has a cable modem. I heard that there was a way for us to share it. Is that true? If so, how do you do it? Oh, and is it legal?

 

[andalas]

If you want to share using hardware, You can buy DSL/Cable Modem router to share your cable connection.
ie: Linksys DSL/Modem Router.

I have share my cable modem connection using those router, and it is legal to do that.
My cable modem provider is AT&T Mediaone. I don't knwo what they called anymore, it was originally highway1 4 years ago .

For software sharing, you can use built-in internet sharing connection for win2k. With using a software you need to have 1 computer as server, so if you want to connect to the internet that computer has to be "on".

Either way it's a simple setup, I would prefer the hardware one because I don't have to dedicate one machine to be a server.

 

[gopunk]

networking, go out and spend a hundred on a cable router and switch. linksys has a pretty good router with a built in switch. i don't see why it would be illegal... here's a link to the router/switch at staples: http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/SKU.asp?BCFlag=False&PageType=1&SKU=430930 have fun!

 

[hzl eyed grl]

Thanks, you guys. I have another stupid question....

Will it be hard to do this if the computers aren't near each other? (Her system is upstairs and mine is downstairs in my room.)

 

[gopunk]

the only difference will be the length of cat-5 cable you get. or how much drilling you're willing to do. they sell 100 footers, there might be longer ones.

 

[LazarusLong66]

I've been using Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on a spare computer to share the cable modem. ICS is included in WIN98 SE and WIN2000.I have 6 'puters on my LAN at home. A router is definately easier. Also most routers I've looked at have a built-in firewall. Since my spare computer also provides print sharing, I been looking at the SMC Barricade.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

Okay, so if we want to do this... We will need to get networked, right? Also, do we need a router if we use the cat-5 cable?

(I really need to start school. Then....I won't have to ask so many dumb questions. lol)

 

[gopunk]

well you can do it without networking, but it'd be more trouble than it's worth. you'd have to call at&t and they'd lease you another cable modem, and charge you for a lot of things, and it'd be bad.

whether you choose to network through software or hardware, you want to get a cat-5 cable (and make sure you have ethernet cards). i think you can do it though parallel ports, but imho, the easiet way is this:

get a router with a built in switch (linksys is good)
get a long enough cat-5 cable
make sure you have ethernet cards in both computers
hook them up, and make sure internet exploere does not "automatically detect settings" under lan settings.

and you're set! super easy, not too expensive.

one more thing, if your friend has installed at&t's software, which you don't really need, you'll need to uninstall it because it resets your internet explorer preferences so that it does automatically detect settings. trust me, you're better off without it =)

 

[hzl eyed grl]

She doesn't have AT&T. It's through the local cable company. Or...do you mean just AT&T's hardware?

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[gopunk]

oh sorry, i assumed she was using at&t for cable. i don't know about other isps, but at&t gives you this software that kinda sucks. another synonym for at&t is @home i think. anyways, good luck

 

[frizzlefry]

If your computers are going to be far apart and you don't want to deal with drilling or running cables, then the easiest solution might be to use a home networking solution like Intels anypoint (I think that's what it's called). It uses the phone line to do the networking, although I believe one computer is set up as the 'server' and the others are clients. It's not expensive and if you decide to move in a year (which I'm assuming since you are students) then it's less of a hassle to set up in your new place.

Intel Anypoint info

 

[yiwonder]

Setting up a router is very easy. The hardest part is going to be get the cables between the computers. The router will come with a good guide to setting it up easily. With the router, you will get a hardware firewall that will filter out most bad stuff. This is especially good if neither of you two have a software firewall (like Zonealarm) running to block out people trying to connect to your computers.

Any more questions?

Edit: Right now, I've got 3 computers hooked into a Netgear RT314 router and it works great.
Linksys, Netgear, and SMC all have some good ones. The SMC barricade has a printer port on the router to easily share a printer. Something to think about if you need that. Also, try the networking forum. There are some really good, patient people there. BTW, how's your job going?

 

[heffe734]

I'm using a Linksys router and currently share a cable line with someone else. There's is no speed decrease...so dont worry about that...good luck.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

I like the look of the Anypoint system. I'll have to talk to her and see what she thinks. We're not really students. (Unless you count her daughter going to school. ) I am going to go to school because I want to get A+ Certified. I'm just waiting for the orientation later this month to see if this particular school is where I want to go.

I don't really think we'll be able to run cable and drill holes around the house. I'm sure the landlord won't care that we really "need" to share the cable modem. So... So far the Anypoint thing looks really appealing to me.

My job... UGH I don't like it. I'm just staying there until I find another one. I like the tech support part, but none of the other crap. I went down to part-time and talked my boss into basically using me for the tech calls while I'm there.

 

[frizzlefry]

If you didn't want to run cabling and both are OK with a cable running from downstairs to upstairs, you can do it. The limit of CAT5 cable is 100meters. This should be plenty if you're only running two wires. The cheapest way to do this if you only plan on having two computers networked is to just buy another NIC. This should be installed on the computer that is connected directly to the cable modem. The other NIC will need a crossover CAT5 cable that goes to computer 2 NIC. But computer 1 will have to be on in order to have computer 2 access the internet.

The only issue with this is that you will need to run ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). This will be run on the computer that is connected to the cable modem. It might be a little tricky to get all the configurations correct if this is new to you, but with all the techies here, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[yiwonder]

Agreed with above. If you don't mind seeing a cable, just run it along the walls. I think the router is the best option, but if you don't want to do that, then the phoneline thing will probably work best (I'm saying this without knowing much about it).

Sorry to hear about your job. Hope your A+ goes well. Good luck.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

How thick--generally--are the cables? If we can't do that, we can look into the phone line thing.

Thank you, yiwonder. I don't know how well I'll do,(A+) but I'm hoping that I'll be able to do it. lol I just need to see if that school is the one I'll be going to or not, but I have to wait for the orientation.

 

[gopunk]

i don't have an exact number but cat-5s are about 8mm in diameter

 

[yiwonder]

The cables are about as thick as 2 phone line cables stacked on top of each other. (like = ) An estimate would be about the size of the power cord on your PC.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

Oh okay. I don't know why, but I had a really thick, ugly cord pictured in my mind. LOL That wouldn't be too bad. It would just be tricky trying to get it up there. :-/ We'll see. I still really appreciate all the help though.

 

[yiwonder]

Have fun installing whichever network you're going to use. If you have more questions, I strongly suggest posting in the Networking forum as there are many good guys (and gals I guess) that know what they're doing. Your questions would be no-brainers for them.

Anyway, good night.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

<< Your questions would be no-brainers for them. >>


LOL!!

I wasn't sure which forum to post this, so next time I'll know which one.

 

[NinjaGnome]

if you want to go really cheap, put a second nic in one of the computers and then get some cat5 crossover and a program from analogX.com called proxy and your set this solution would cost you like 50 bux 20 for nic and 30 for super long cat5 crossover